The present invention relates to a front vehicle-body structure of a vehicle equipped with a cowl panel which extends in a vehicle width direction and supports a windshield from below.
Conventionally, a so-called open cowl structure in which an open cross section which opens vehicle forward is formed by a cowl panel and a panel member, such as a dash upper panel supporting a rear end of the cowl panel, is known as a means for ensuring the pedestrian protection performance and the performance of restraining booming noise caused by vibration of a windshield (i.e., the so-called NVH (Noise Vibration Harshness) performance).
In a case in which the above-described open cowl structure is adopted, a support portion for supporting the rear end of the cowl panel at the panel member is necessarily configured to project vehicle rearward toward a vehicle compartment. Accordingly, there is a problem in that a space behind the cowl panel may not be ensured sufficiently, so that the flexibility of interior design of a front portion of the vehicle compartment may be improperly limited.
In recent years, need to utilize the space at the front portion of the vehicle compartment as a space for installing auxiliary devices/components of a vehicle has increased due to diversification of auxiliary devices/components installed to the vehicle or the like. Thus, the above-described flexibility of interior design has become an important matter as well as the above-described pedestrian protection and NVH performances.
Meanwhile, a structure equipped with a cowl panel which comprises a shelf portion (an upper face portion) which supports a windshield, a vertical wall portion and a vehicle-rearward side portion extending downward from the shelf portion, and a bottom portion (a lower face portion) which extends forward from the vehicle-rearward side portion, and a plate-shaped NV brace as a reinforcing member is known as an example in which the above-described open cowl structure is not adopted (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-126480).
In the above-described patent document, the support rigidity of the windshield is ensued by forming a closed cross section with the vertical wall portion, the vehicle-rearward side portion of the cowl panel and the NV brace. Further, in a case in which a collision load is inputted from above when an object collides with the windshield or the like, the cowl panel and the NV brace deform in a bending shape, so that the collision energy is absorbed, thereby the pedestrian protection performance is ensured.
In the above-described patent document, however, while the cowl panel deforms at a lower end of the vertical wall portion and a bending portion of the bottom portion when the collision load is inputted to the windshield from above, an upper portion of the cowl panel which is comprised of the shelf portion and the vertical wall portion deforms very little, thereby does not perform the function of absorbing the collision energy properly. Therefore, the amount of energy absorption may not be necessarily sufficient as a whole of the cowl panel, so there is a room to make improvements in the pedestrian protection performance.